Wheel Bearing Grease

I generally clean with mineral spirits and blow them dry with compressed air (not spinning them). I haven't used synthetic wheel bearing grease yet and see no need. The regular stuff always looks just fine when I clean it out after several years and many thousands of miles.

Puddles wrote:

3oaks wrote:

eHoefler wrote:
Mineral spirits is a good solvent, it has cleaned everything I can fit in my parts washer solvent tank.

Or I use plain diesel fuel in a bucket and a clean paint brush to clean my wheel bearings and other greasy parts. Along with wearing disposable nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight box of 100. :)

The mechanic who taught me, said to use a cleaning solution that will evaporate and leave the bearing dry before adding grease... diesel, gas & paint thinner will leave a slight oily film that can thin the grease over time. Many different ideas and techniques out there...

'Don't know about the gasoline and paint thinner, I would never use them as a degreaser, especially gasoline. Much too dangerous for several reasons. But it is precisely why I use diesel. It doesn't leave the bearing completely dry and exposed to air and potential oxidation. The oily residue that is left is so minute I doubt it can dilute the new bearing grease enough to have any adverse affect. You would need high tech lab equipment to even detect it in the mix.

To each, their own method. It's what ever works for YOU that counts! ;)

mekkerl wrote:
I have never done this work, but am very able to, as I've done brakes and all other maintenance/repairs/modifications on my 5'r.
I'd like to make sure I do whatever I can to keep the wheels, axels, bearings, hubs, whatever it is in best shape.
Can anyone explain how to grease hubs or bearings, and anything else? I'm not even sure if I have sealed bearings, etc.

Get on Youtube and do a search. There's probably a million videos. Maybe put 'Dexter' in your search criteria.

3oaks wrote:

eHoefler wrote:
Mineral spirits is a good solvent, it has cleaned everything I can fit in my parts washer solvent tank.

Or I use plain diesel fuel in a bucket and a clean paint brush to clean my wheel bearings and other greasy parts. Along with wearing disposable nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight box of 100. :)

The mechanic who taught me, said to use a cleaning solution that will evaporate and leave the bearing dry before adding grease... diesel, gas & paint thinner will leave a slight oily film that can thin the grease over time. Many different ideas and techniques out there...

I have never done this work, but am very able to, as I've done brakes and all other maintenance/repairs/modifications on my 5'r.
I'd like to make sure I do whatever I can to keep the wheels, axels, bearings, hubs, whatever it is in best shape.
Can anyone explain how to grease hubs or bearings, and anything else? I'm not even sure if I have sealed bearings, etc.

Use what the mfg recommend. Also carefully inspect the races and bearings for pits, abrasion, discoloring and etc. Replace any faulting bearing and its race. Torqueing the bearing properly is very important to achieve long Gevity and is more important than the grease selected. If you have Easy lube axles, use tang type keepers rather than the springing nut retainer things the most mfg.s use. The spring things are unreliable and have a tendency to loosen which will cause premature bearing failure. Any noticeable looseness is a bad thing.

eHoefler wrote:
Mineral spirits is a good solvent, it has cleaned everything I can fit in my parts washer solvent tank.

Or I use plain diesel fuel in a bucket and a clean paint brush to clean my wheel bearings and other greasy parts. Along with wearing disposable nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight box of 100. :)

My opinion of the Valvoline synthetic wheel bearing grease - it's superior to the standard soap-based wheel bearing grease. Even though our current 5th wheel has oil bath wheel bearings, I still use the Valvoline synthetic grease on the hitch jaws and kingpin.

Rusty

azdryheat wrote:
Wear hospital gloves to keep your hands clean. Use brake cleaner to clean out the bearings. You ever done bearings before?

Yep... been hand packing wheel bearings since I was 16 working in a gas station... taught to use the heel of my hand to force grease up thru each roller... figured lacquer thinner would dissolve the gloves... mainly just wanted to hear opinions on synthetic wheel brg grease... :)

Mineral spirits is a good solvent, it has cleaned everything I can fit in my parts washer solvent tank.